As far as i understand things search engines will except this just fine and it will not cause any issues.

However the problem being raise is this, because the actual site XML sits under a directory structure like /sitemap/date/ search engines will not include the URLS. My opinion is that this is incorrect. If anyone can clarify that would be great i have read the documentation on Sitemaps Protocol and would welcome any further articles that could be of use.

FYI if it was the other way around (sitemap in a subfolder, pointing at URLs in the root), this could be an issue, but what you have is fine. This might be why there is some confusion.
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Tim FountainApr 8 '11 at 8:20

Hi Tim thats what i thought and probably where the confusion stems from. it good to get an independent opinion though to clear things up.
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Matthew BrookesApr 10 '11 at 12:40

I assume you have a robots.txt file and have specified where the sitemaps are. Remember there are many smaller search engines out there. We don't want to make it hard for them. Someday they may be very important.

"We don't want to make it hard for them. Someday they may be very important." - The protocol is there to reduce the likelihood of error and if the bots are not doing their part, it's doubtful they'll ever become important enough to justify spending time accommodating them.
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danlefreeApr 7 '11 at 23:38